A number of mirror assemblies have been patented which are deisgned to aid a driver of a vehicle in hitching the vehicle to a trailer, without the assistance of a second party in aligning the trailer hitch mechanism on the vehicle with the complementary socket on the tongue of the trailer. One especially complex example of these prior art devices is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,966 issued to Lowell on Jan. 7, 1975. This patent describes an apparatus which mounts on a trailer jack stand and includes a direction indicating arrow, a mirror and a retractable link of spring steel material which interconnects the vehicle and the apparatus. The retractable link serves to maintain the mirror in alignment with the rear of the vehicle in order to provide the driver with a better view and to pivot the direction indicating arrow, providing an idea of the angle of approach of the vehicle to the trailer. As the vehicle approaches the trailer, the retractable link is rewound on a spring loaded reel. More typical of these prior art devices is U.S. Pat. No. 3,525,701 issued to Strohmeier on Aug. 18, 1970. This patent teaches a convex mirror attached to an angled mount which is in turn attached by a magnet to the jack post of a trailer. The magnet retains the mirror in its position until the hitching process is complete. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,292 issued to Rutkowski on Oct. 23, 1973 describes a similar device having a bracket which supports a reflective chrome plated hub cap in a position which permits the driver of a vehicle to view a trailer hitch reflected in the hub cap as he backs the vehicle toward a trailer. The bracket which supports the hub cap is designed to connect to propane gas tanks, which are traditionally mounted on the tongue of recreational trailers.
All of the above mentioned inventions share at least two common disadvantages. Firstly, they are all designed to connect to a trailer having either a jack post or tongue mounted propane tanks. Secondly, they are without exception suitable only for use with an automobile or a similar sized vehicle because of the length and fixed angle of their mirror mounts.
It is an object of the invention to overcome these problems of the prior art.